If you want to compare results
from multiple search engines, Zuula
will do it for you very simply and easily. Don’t though,
get Zuula confused with “metasearch sites” such
as Dogpile, Mamma, and ixquick. Metasearch sites search
multiple engines and combine the results. Unfortunately
those tools have a number of very notable weaknesses (such
as not covering all the major engines, only showing a small
handful of results from each, and losing advanced search
capabilities. (See my Nov/December, 2005 CyberSkeptic article
on Metasearch for more details). One after another with
a single click, Zuula allows you to view the actual results
from eight Web search engines, including all the “big
ones.” Zuula also provides a similar comparison for
image, news, blog, and job searches

Search results as they are displayed in Zuula are very,
but not totally, similar to the results as you will see
if you do the search in the engines directly. (The order
of results may vary slightly, since Zuulu may at any moment
be accessing a different search engine computer than you
connect to from your own location.) Zuula retains most,
but not all of the specific result page content you will
find in the engines themselves. With Google, for example,
most of the record in Zuula is the same as you would see
it in Google itself, including the cache link. Zuula does
not, however, show Google’s “Similar Pages”,
“Note This”, or “More Results From”
links. With Yahoo results, the page size and the cache links
are not shown by Zuula. Ads are shown in Zuula in the same
positions as they are in the original site. Zuula also drops
some other features found on original results pages, such
as image results previews in Google Web searches, Yahoo!
Visitor Guides and Shopping results. Zuula though is still
in Beta (whatever that means these days) and its producers
promise ongoing improvements.

One additional useful feature you will find on Zuula results
pages is a list of your recent searches. You can delete
them all, individually, or turn the feature off. An Advanced
Search page provides several commonly encountered options,
such as Site/Domain search, Safe Search, results per page,
and also an option to have your search terms appear in bold.
A Preferences page additionally allows you to set your selection
of engines, and there you can also “drag-and-drop”
to rearrange the order of the search engine tabs.